Over the past decade, the Indian judiciary has ushered in an era of significant digitisation under the flagship E-courts Mission Mode Project (e-courts project), a cog in the Indian government’s larger wheel of e-governance. The e-courts project has been pivotal in augmenting institutional efficiency within the judiciary through the integration of information and communication technologies. Under this project, a majority of Indian courts today have access to basic and advanced computing hardware. Additionally, many new software programmes have been designed by the National Informatics Centre to bring online the judiciary’s significant chunk of diurnal administrative work. As a result, litigants and lawyers have ready and almost immediate access to court orders and judgments, real time updates of case status, e-filing facilities and numerous other amenities, easing and improving the overall access to justice.
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In shutting down everything, including our courts, the pandemic has willy-nilly galvanised a vital infrastructural push: the digitisation of our judicial process.
Pandemic Lessons for Future Tech Integration
The COVID-19 pandemic has proven to be an unforeseen, yet remarkable litmus test for the challenges and opportunities of the e-courts project. Due to the existing video conferencing facilities, Indian judiciary managed to continue its primary adjudicatory functions, though with several hiccups in the process. And now, with the rollout of nationwide vaccination drives, courts are reverting to a semblance of normality by gradually restoring physical hearings.
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The entire pandemic period has afforded two lessons for the Indian judiciary, which should be heeded. First, it needs to further build upon the digital infrastructure that has been integrated within the first two phases of the e-courts project, by introducing the next generation of tech interventions. This process has seen a renewed conversation over the last year under the auspices of a reinvigorated E-Committee (chaired by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud) to conceptualise and design Phase III of the e-courts project. Furthermore, Chief Justice of India S.A. Bobde has indicated unequivocal interest in realising the potential of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence within the Indian justice system.
The second, and arguably more challenging lesson, is the necessity of securing the buy-in of relevant stakeholders before making systemic technological transitions. The pandemic patently posed a more urgent scenario, leaving little room for backroom discussions and preparations in the moment. However, the e-courts project has been going on for over a decade. In that time, while technology innovation has witnessed significant progress, there has always been room for improvement in terms of stakeholder participation to augment their user uptake.
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One of the consistent critiques of the e-courts project has been the lacklustre adoption and scaling of technologies. With the pandemic and the unavoidable overnight switch to video conferencing, hitherto subtle critiques morphed into blunt disgruntlement. This raised legitimate concerns about the ability of the whole system to be fair to all stakeholders, especially those with fewer resources. It presents an important lesson that must be effectively absorbed. In particular, as the judiciary begins its AI pilots, there must be a proper balance between availing the opportunity, and being appropriately prudent and inclusive.
While there is ample documented evidence on both the positive potential and the far-reaching negative impacts of AI in general, it is imperative that the judiciary acknowledges both these sides of the coin. This acknowledgment must yield distinct and timely steps like preparation of a clear roadmap for integration of AI, establishing ground rules for the preservation of constitutional values, effectuating informed and evidence-based policies and systemic judicial reforms to govern emerging technologies like AI, and other institutional safeguards, aiming to minimise risks and maximise benefits.
AI’s Prospective Uses for Indian Judiciary
AI’s integration within the judiciary, and perhaps even the larger justice system, is the putative next stage of more sophisticated digitisation, laden with abundant transformative potential. Pertinent to this discussion are the underlying perceived benefits of most automation—the ability to improve efficiency and expediency. As Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella pithily put it, AI has the capacity of augmenting human capability and capacity.
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For the Indian judiciary, a perpetually exploding docket and the always seeming paucity of time for performing judicial functions must be the most immediate focal points for AI interventions. In the short-term, machine learning algorithms can become the first forms of AI to automate routine and banal administrative tasks within the judiciary, saving up on judicial time and energy. These could range from case query tools to algorithms designed for intelligent scheduling and work allocation. The launch of the AI-driven translation tool SUVAAS marked the advent of these technologies in Indian courts in 2019.
Legal robotics is another avenue that could feature specific forms of AI. Bots are becoming ubiquitous and common across different sectors (from insurance to health), and its potential should also be harnessed within the justice system. For a common person, accessing basic legal services or even grappling with a potential legal situation can be a daunting conundrum. Intelligent algorithms (or bots) can be useful in furnishing basic legal information to potential litigants and readily connecting them with legal aid services or pro-bono lawyers. Legal bots can also be designed to furnish simpler legal services like drafting contracts, conveyancing deeds and legal notices for individuals without compelling them to scramble for actual lawyers. In the medium to longer term, deep-learning techniques can be used to design intelligent technologies that analyse, describe and explore scenarios to present various options for connections, similarities, gaps and potential evolution (or outcomes) of cases. Such technologies exist in three broad forms—assistive, augmentative and autonomous—and are ideal for jurisprudentially well-defined areas of law. To aid judges in their adjudicatory functions, assistive AI can be examined for the Indian judiciary. For example, intelligent legal research and analytics tools, utilising national and international sources of law, could prepare case specific legal briefs, predicting the pathways and outcome of such cases with detailed factual and legal reasoning.
Deep learning is an evolving field in AI innovation, and its application for predictive justice tools in India will require robust and well-established research. This research must not only focus on technology innovation and development, but also undertake interdisciplinary research focused on the ethical and social ramifications of predictive justice tools in a disparate digitally literate country like India.
There is a need to conduct more indigenous research and pilot projects on understanding the potential of AI and determine its deployment on a case-by-case basis. Where the potential outcome can jeopardise individual freedoms, life and liberty, a highly circumspect approach must be adopted. Such deployment must also be mindful of how diverse stakeholders across the board will be impacted. The onus lies on the judiciary and other policymakers to be transparent, and to engage with both agreeing and disagreeing opinions for determining common ground. Ultimately, the transformative potential of AI must be harnessed in a benign manner to further public good and access to justice, not to exacerbate existing disparities among the citizenry.
(Views are personal.)
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Partha P. Chakrabarti is professor at the Centre of Excellence in AI, at IIT Kharagpur; Ameen Jauhar is senior resident fellow and a team leader at Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy